A new generation of high-definition TV and DVD technology heralds the arrival of the digital living room, says Alice Chang, CEO of Taiwanese media software maker CyberLink. Users love high-definition TV because it"s like watching a football game from the sidelines, while HD DVD and Blu-ray, the high-definition video disc formats, put the cinema in your house and offer fun new possibilities. For example, the HD DVD version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen includes a shoot "em up game users can play. Bad guys don"t die when hit, but the game does keep the score. Tokyo Drift includes a function that puts the story cards used to make the movie in the top left corner of the corresponding scene, giving users a glimpse of the creative process.
And that"s just the beginning, Chang says. One function her company is working on could one day let users buy items they see in movies on the click of a mouse. So instead of wondering where 007 picked up that suave tuxedo, or Carrie Bradshaw got her new shoes, users can click on them and buy immediately at Amazon.com or eBay.